Active School Flag

The Active School Flag (ASF) is awarded to schools that strive to achieve a physically educated and physically active school community. The process aims to get more schools more active, more often.Schools wishing to achieve the ASF begin the process by self-evaluating their current provision across 3 areas: Physical Education, Physical Activity and Partnerships. Schools must also organise an Active School Week programme and commit to having it as part of their annual school calendar. Schools that can say ‘yes’ to all of the ASF success criteria will be awarded the active flag. The flag remains valid for a period of 3 years, after which time schools will be invited to re-apply.

ASF is a Department of Education and Skills initiative supported by Healthy Ireland.

Why Get Active?

Did you know that four out of five children in the Republic of Ireland are still not getting enough exercise, posing serious risks to their health and well-being? Being active helps release chemicals in your brain (endorphins) which have a positive effect on your mood, not to mention the benefits to your heart, lungs, muscles and bones. Getting out and being active is also a great way to manage stress.

Health Benefits: Physical activity helps children to…

• Improve agility, balance and co-ordination

• Feel more energised

• Reduce feelings of stress, anxiety and depression

• Generate more energy

• Improve their physical and mental wellbeing

• Maintain healthy weight

• Improve concentration

• Improve self-esteem and help them feel good about themselves

• Develop friendships

Our Active School Committee:

Physical Education

This is part of our weekly curriculum in the yard, school gym or outside green area.

Physical Activity

Maths Trail

Ms Holland and Ms O’ Leary’s classes recently participated in a maths trail around the school grounds. They searched for 2D and 3D shapes in the environment and collected data based on cars in the school car park, how many windows are on the front of the school etc. All the boys really enjoyed their active maths time!

Orienteering

Ms. O’ Callaghan and Mr. Hogan O’ Connell’s classes went on an orienteering trip to Fota. Each team was given a map and a microchip had to be used each time they discovered a new marker. All the boys really enjoyed the day and said that they would recommend it to anyone looking for an adventure.

Volleyball

As part of the Active School Flag pupils in St. Anthony’s are participating in some new sports including Volleyball. Here are 6th class pictured recently playing a match. We aim to continue to try out a wide variety of sports throughout the rest of the school year.

Congratulations & well done to the 4th Class Indoor hurlers on their superb, skilful and enthusiastic performance in the County Final at Na Piarsaighs. Winning their semifinal 3 goals to 2 goals and narrowly losing out to Carrigtwohill in the final after finishing full time in a draw. Extra time and golden goal could not separate these two fantastic teams. Carrigtwohill eventually winning in a penalty shoot out. A heroic display from all our boys. Well done to all.

Congratulations to the St. Anthonys U12 Basketball team who competed in the National Basketball Tournament in Parochial Hall today, winning their group beating Moycullen and Fr. Matthews. They defeated Blue Demons in the quarter- finals and lost to The Dublin Lions in a titanic battle in the Semi-final. A huge well done on some superb performances and also to coach Tom Manning.

Congratulations to all the 4th Class Indoor Hurlers who won their division and have qualified for the County Indoor Hurling Finals in March. An awesome display by both teams. Maith thú.

Well done to the St Anthony’s football team who won the Sciath na Scol Football Final. It was a fantastic game!!
Well done to all the coaches & supporters who turned up to cheer on the team!!

Well done to the St. Anthony’s Gaelic Footballers on winning the Joe McGrath Cup today V Crosshaven BNS. An excellent game of football with great skill, enthusiasm and entertainment on display from both teams. Maith thú lads. A big thank you to Scoil Chros tSeáin for the great welcome and sporting game.

Congratulations and best of luck to past pupil Bryan Hayes, Mr. French’s class June 2017 who will play in Croke Park today during halftime of the All-Ireland Football Final. This is in recognition of his outstanding performances in helping St. Anthonys win the Cumann Na mBunscol mini 7’s Gaelic Football Tournament last May. Well done to all the team on this success.

Go Noodle/Busy Breaks

Short physical activity breaks are used on a regular basis in St. Anthony’s to boost brain power and concentration. Our school encourages students to exercise and keep fit not just at lunchtime but also throughout the school day. The children also engage in these classroom-based physical activities on wet days.

Supertroopers

This year Senior Infants and 3rd classes are taking part in the Supertroopers active homework programme. Each class have a new activity to complete each night and the boys are really enjoying it! Our aim is to reinforce the message to both parents and students that children require 60 minutes of physical activity every day.

Gymnastics

As part of the Active School Flag we have chosen to prioritise the strand of gymnastics for further development this year. After the Christmas holidays the whole school participated in a six week course of gymnastic activities. Each class group received a booklet containing PSSI lesson plans for gymnastics, which were followed with great success. Some excellent improvements in skill and ability were noticed by both the teachers and students at the end of the six weeks. We are hoping that the boys will also have the opportunity to visit a gymnastics studio later this year. We look forward to continuing our improvements in this strand in the school years to come.

St. Anthony’s aims to incorporate physical activity into various school calendar events throughout the year.

World Book Day Fashion Show

The boys recently celebrated World Book Day by dressing up as characters from their favourite books. Each class was given the opportunity to show off their costume during a fashion show with music for all the boys to dance to.

Seachtain na Gaeilge

Classes participated in some Irish Dancing lessons in celebration of Seachtain na Gaeilge. All the boys really enjoyed taking part in a Céilí in the halla and creating a flashmob in the yard to “An Dreolín.” Some boys even tried out the brush dance. Is breá linn an Ghaeilge!!!

Easter Egg Hunt

Many classes set off on Easter Egg Hunts today around the school to collect eggs left behind by the Easter Bunny. Junior Infants, in particular, really enjoyed their day!

St. Anthony’s Running Initiative

St. Anthony’s have just begun our non-competitive running initiative for the year. Each class will participate in the initiative over a number of weeks and will aim to improve the length of time they can run without stopping. Our challenge is for all the classes to complete a total of 3.484km, the same distance from Cork to Moscow, just in time for the World Cup!

St. Anthony’s is getting active for Christmas with the St Anthony’s 12 Days of Fitness. A new exercise is added each day & will culminate in a Super Santa Circuit on the 21st of December. Let’s get Active!

There was great fun in St.Anthony’s when all classes took part in the Super Santa Circuit. This was a culmination of our 12 Days of Fitness! The activities covered cardio, strength, stability & a lot more. Everyone got active & had fun.

Boys from 1st-3rd class dressed up for Halloween. There was a Halloween disco in the gym and the boys danced to Halloween themed songs.

4th, 5th and 6th class enjoyed some Halloween pumpkin bowling on the day of the midterm holidays.

5th & 6th class took part in the inaugural St Anthony’s Conker Competition.

Partnership

St. Anthony’s is involved in many partnerships involving various clubs and coaches in the local community.

Wheelchair Basketball

St. Anthony’s was very lucky today to welcome in Paul Ryan from the Irish Wheelchair Association who taught the boys wheelchair basketball. As you can see from the photos they all really enjoyed the games!

A big thank you to Graham Cummins from Cork City FC who did some soccer training & spoke to the boys about life as a footballer today.

A great occasion for all at the Health Promoting Schools day at the City Hall today. Well done to Cathal, Jack & Ms O’Leary & Mr Lyons who represented the school at this event. A big thank you & well done from the Lord Mayor Tony Fitzgearald to all the staff, pupils, parents & especially the HPS schools Committee for all their work.

Swimming

Annual Swimming Gala

Great day’s swimming today at the St Anthony’s BNS School Swimming Gala. The boys from 2nd -6th really made a splash! Great excitement & enjoyment had by all swimmers in the Individual & relay events. A huge well done to all the boys, organizers, teachers & Parents’ Assoc. on a fantastic day’s swimming.

2nd and 3rd classes are currently participating in swimming lessons in the Gus Healy Swimming Pool.

The Infant classes are currently participating in Hurling training with Blackrock GAA.

Gaelic Football

Classes from 2nd-6th participate in Gaelic Football training with Charlie Mc Loughlin from Nemo Rangers GAA.

Rugby

IRFU rugby coach Willie Schubart trained the boys in 5th and 6th classes last week. They started with “tails”-a bib tucked into pants like a tail, there were three catchers to grab the tails, if a boy was caught he then became a catcher. They then practised their passing in a circle of 6, hands following the ball and hands out ready to receive/catch. After this, they faced away from the circle to encourage passing backwards. Finally, they played a game of 6 v 6 two handed-touch. 1st touch you cannot score, 2nd touch you must pass, 5 touch and pass means you turn over the ball to the other team. All the boys thoroughly enjoyed the activities. Thanks again to coach Willie Schubart for developing the boys skills and techniques.

Congratulations to the winning St Anthony’s team in the recent Sciath na Scol Final.

A speaker from the RSA visited classes in our school to speak about road safety.

At St. Anthony’s we acknowledge physical activity and sports achievements achieved both during and outside school hours. Here are some of our pupil’s recent achievements.

All-Ireland Swimming Championships

St Anthony’s are Double All-Ireland Champions. They won U10 medley relay & U10 front crawl and are the fastest in Ireland! Congratulations to All-Ireland Champions and National winners Sean, James, David & Thomas and their coaches Mr. Harrington and Mr. Cussen.

Congratulations to John Cashman, 5th class Mr Brick, who secured the double in Athlone at the Juvenile Indoor All Ireland Championship, winning the boys U13 hurdles @ 9.28s & breaking the standing All Ireland record. He also took gold in the boys U13 sprint at a super time of 7.91s!!!!! Well done John on this fantastic achievement!!!

This weekend is a special sporting occasion for many families in St Anthony’s.
There is great excitement as local club Nemo Rangers play Corofin in the All-Ireland Senior Club Final in Croke Park. Our school is strongly represented by past-pupils Micheal Aodh Martin, O’Donovan brothers (Kevin, Alan, Conor), Cronin brothers (Stephen &Alan), Barry O’Driscoll, Colm Kiely, David Niblock, James O’Donovan, Brian O’Regan & Cian Mc Winney. Management: Larry (Dad of Charlie 5th Class),John Coogan(Dad of Mark 3rd Class) & Liam O’Connell (Dad of Oisin 5th Class). We wish the team and managers the very best of luck.

Active Schools’ Week

Day 1: We started off Active School’s Week with Active Lines before heading up to the classroom. Next up was Circuit training for 1st-6th class while the infants enjoyed the Fun Filled Full Body Workout with Vipr & Tone Cork!. Juniors also enjoyed Yoga with Alma Murray, while Seniors enjoyed Karate with Rising Sun School of Karate.

Day 3: Another fantastic day @ the St Anthony’s Active School week!!! Thanks to the good weather today we were able to start off the day with Active Lines. After this past pupil Micheal Aodh Martin called in for the final of the penalty shoot out. We held our Walk a Mile with a Smile today as well as some classes partaking in Outdoor Hockey with our very own Munster & Irish Hockey player, Cathy Walsh.

Day 4: Another very Active day in St Anthony’s. We started off with some hurling in the lower yard & then Active lines. Afterwards the classes enjoyed Basketball Shoot Out, while others enjoyed some outdoor hockey & rugby rounders. 5th class enjoyed indoor bowls while 6th class has the opportunity to attend a touch rugby blitz in PBC today, which they really enjoyed!

Day 5: A fantastic end to a truly Active School Week!
The rain didn’t stop an early morning puc around in the Hall, next up was indoor Gaelic & Touch rugby for 4th & 6th classes. We finished off the week with a disco, with DJ Stevie G!! We would like to sincerely thank everyone who helped make this such a great week for the school, especially those who freely gave of the time, parents, staff and past pupils, Vipr & Tone Cork, RINKA Douglas Cork, Yogaworx, The Yoga Tree, Rising Sun School of Karate, Stevie G and Micheal Aodh Martin. Without their support & help we would not have had such a fantastic week. We hope that everyone enjoyed the past week & are looking forward to another Active School Week next year. Let’s Get Active!

Achievements

Congratulations to the St.Anthony’s tennis team who brought the Munster Schools Tennis Cup home. Many thanks to their coaches. Congratulations boys!

Well done to all who took part in the Primary School Sports today in CIT. It was a fantastic day all around with 2 wins & a 2nd in the sprints (John Cashman, Tom Murray & Liam Ring), as well as winning the under 11 & the over 11 relays, & finally John Cashman winning the County Final sprints!

Congratulations and the very best of luck to pupil & extremely talented hurler Darragh Browne who will represent Cork & St. Anthony’s in the Primary Game v Clare at Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Sunday 20th May. Corcaigh Abú!

Congratulations & well done to the St. Anthony’s Basketballers & coach Tom Manning in their epic 28 -29 victory over rivals Skibbereen tonight at Parochial Hall. The game finished all square after normal time with St. Anthony’s securing a sweet victory in overtime.